Pipe jaw attachment for adjustable wrenches



May 10, 1955 P. c. KINE PIPE JAW ATTACHMENT FOR ADJUSTABLE wRENcHEsFiled Jan. 9, 1953 F/G. l.

INVENTOR. Pfl/L /p C KIA/E WZZmW/mzaz Kimm /TTOR/VEVS United States PIPEJAW ATTACILMENT FOR ADJUSTABLE WRENCHES Philip C. Kine, Fort William,Ontario, Canada Application January 9, 1953, Serial No. 330,405

1 Claim. (Cl. 81--180) This invention relates to adjustable wrenches,and more particularly to a pipe wrench attachment which may be readilyengaged on one of the jaws of a conventional adjustable wrench.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved pipewrench attachment for an adjustable wrench of the type having a firstjaw rigidly connected to the handle of the wrench and a second jawslidably engaged with said handle through a slot therein, whereby thespacing between the jaws may be varied, the improvement being simple inconstruction, being easy to install on the wrench, and enabling aconventional smooth-jawed wrench to be converted into a pipe wrench whenrequired.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved pipe wrenchattachment for use on a conven` tional smooth-jawed wrench to enable thewrench to be employed for gripping and rotating round objects, such aspipes or the like, the attachment being inexpensive to fabricate, beingdurable in construction, and being quickly installed and removable bythe user.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description and claim, and from the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Figure l is a side elevational View of a conventional adjustable wrenchprovided with an improved pipe jaw attachment according to the presentinvention.

Figure 2 is a top view of the wrench of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross sectional detail view taken on the line3-3 of Figure 2 and showing the pipe wrench attachment installed on thestationary jaw of the wrench.

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross sectional detail view taken on the line 44 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, 11 designates a conventional wrench having anelongated handle 12 to which is integrally connected a first jaw 13,said jaw being formed with the slot 14 which slidably receives the shank15 of a second jaw 16, the shank 15 being provided with the rack element17 which is engaged by the worm 18 rotatably mounted in the head of thewrench in the usual manner. As is well known, rotation of the worm 18causes the movable jaw 16 to be adjusted toward or away from thestationary jaw 13. The jaws 13 and 16 are provided with the relativelyflat gripping faces 19 and 20, whereby the wrench may be employed forgripping smooth-faced objects having Hat-parallel surfaces, such ashexagonal nuts, bolt heads, and the like.

Designated at 21 is the pipe gripping attachment, said attachmentcomprising a block element 22 which is wedge-shaped, as shown in Figures1 and 3, said block element being provided with the transverselyserrated gripping face 23. The element 22 is adapted to engage againstthe gripping surface 19 of the jaw 13, as illus- 2,707,894 )Patented May10, 1955 rice trated in Figures l and 3. At its outer end the blockelement 22 is formed with the upwardly projecting, rearwardly curvedlocking lug 24 adapted to lockingly engage with the outer corner portionof jaw 13, as shown in Figures 1 and 3. At its inner end the blockelement 22 is formed with the upstanding, resilient arm 25 which isengageable through the slot 14, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the arm 25being provided at its end with the hook element 26 which is engageablewith the outer surface of the jaw 13 at the outer end of the slot 14, asshown in Figure 3.

When it is desired to employ the wrench 11 for gripping round objectssuch as pipes or the like, the attachment 21 is engaged thereon by firstengaging the lug 24 over the outer end corner of the jaw 13 and slippingthe resilient arm 25 upwardly through the slot 14, pushing upwardly onthe block element 22 until the hook element 26 snaps into engagementagainst the outer surface of the jaw at the top end of the slot 14, asshown in Figure 3. ln this position the block element 22 is held firmlyagainst the jaw surface 19 and the attachment is securely locked to thejaw 13, whereby the Wrench may be employed for gripping round objects,such as pipes, rod or the like. To remove the attachment, it is merelynecessary to manually flex the arm 25 clockwise, as viewed in Figure 3,as by manually pushing the lug 26 to the right, as viewed in saidligure, whereby the lug 26 may be pushed downwardly into the slot 14.With the lug 26 pushed downwardly into the slot 14, it is then merelynecessary to grasp the block element 22 and to pull said block elementdownwardly away from the jaw 13.

While a specific embodiment of a pipe jaw attachment for a wrench hasbeen disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood thatvarious modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur tothose skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitationsbe placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of theappended claim.

What is claimed is:

A jaw attachment for an adjustable wrench of the type having a mainbody, a first jaw rigidly connected to said main body and formed with aslot adjacent said main body and a second jaw having a shank thereonslidably disposed in said slot, said attachment comprising awedge-shaped block element formed with a gripping surface, said blockelement being shaped to fit against the surface of said first jaw, a lugat one end of the block element lockingly engageable with the end of thefirst jaw, a resilient arm secured to said block element in opposingrelation to said lug, a hook element on the end of said arm, said armbeing engageable in said slot and said hook element being engageablewith the outer surface of said first jaw at the outer end of said slotto secure said block element against said first-named surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS452,410 Hitt May 19, 1891 681,388 Clark Aug. 27, 1901 740,812 Covar Oct.6, 1903 1,055,729 Esterberg Mar. 11, 1913 1,055,757 King Mar. l1, 19131,244,172 Tar Bush Oct. 23, 1917 1,359,894 Hunter Nov. 23, 19201,506,860 Page Sept. 2, 1924

